


The Ninth Bassist

by cool_cats



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Age Swap, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Divorced John, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: 中文-普通话 國語
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:00:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25219648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cool_cats/pseuds/cool_cats
Summary: It’s an imaginary story between Freddie (25 years old) and John (39 years old).The new band Queen hadn’t had a steady bassist by early 1972. They had changed 6 bassists but still not satisfied. What’s worse was the band’s economic condition and their struggle on their album recording. All these made the lead singer upset, until one day they met an elder electrician.(wrote in Chinese but I tried to translate into English)
Relationships: John Deacon/Freddie Mercury
Kudos: 13





	The Ninth Bassist

**Author's Note:**

> Please forgive my poor English translation, pls feel free to leave comments if there’s any mistake, thanks so much!  
> 中文原版在英文后面，请姐妹们往下拉，谢谢！  
> Hope you would enjoy it!

Chapter 1

Freddie frowned and shook his head firmly. "No, let's do it again."

"Again? How many times have we already recorded tonight, Fred? I can't lift my arms now." Roger protested, laying on the couch in the control room,  “ I think the song is pretty good. It's enough. We're not performing for the Queen tomorrow."

"We don't play for the Queen, we  are the Queen," said Freddie, playing with his hair. The manner he smoothed his long, dark hair was so gorgeous, just like a nobleman, if not a queen, "Get up, darling, and get your ass behind the drum stand. How about I give you a hand massage when we get back to the apartment?"

"Hmm, sounds good." Roger seemed to accept the singer's offer, but remained on the couch, stretching and yawning, pushed the guitarist out of the couch.

Brian sighed and left the couch. "I agree with Fred," he said,  “ The song is good but still not enough to get the record company to sign with us. What we need is perfect."

Thought of the past one year after the band formed, they kept looking for a record company but failed, the three boys felt like there's a huge stone pressed on their chest. All the record companies refused them and said they lack of something. What they lacked? They didn't know, they just decided to become more perfect.

But the fourth young man in the other chair did not worry at all.

“ You look so serious, guys, take it easy. It's already good enough for a new band like us." said Eddy, their bassist. He just wanted to say more when he caught a glimpse of Freddie's face and then gave up, "Okay, go re-record it if you want."

He got up and grabbed his bass, following his bandmates into the recording room for the hundredth time tonight. As he passed the drummer, he whispered to Roger,  “ Your lead signer is so bad-tempered —" He stopped, noticed that Roger was staring at him. For the second time tonight, Eddy swallowed the rest of the speech.

He had just heard Roger complained, so he thought he and the drummer were on the same side, but this was clearly an illusion. The band's first three members were the same detail-oriented and ambitious. Eddy felt he's different. Sometimes, Eddy would wonder if this was the reason that all the previous bassists left the band. He was their sixth bassist. Was it good for a new band to change their players so often? Will they change him one day?

Three, two, one. The sound engineer began another round of recording. He couldn't help yawning. This band always book the cheapest night record time, and repeated and repeated on some minimum details. He looked at his watch, it was already morning and they still hadn't finish one song.

A few minutes later, the singer took off his headphones again. "I sang like shit," he said, quite upset, rubbing his throat.

Brian looked worried but said nothing. Freddie saw that and understood Brian's concern, "Don't worry, darling, I have been busy for half a month, neither slept outside nor did anything to damage my throat. It just seems that my Muse has not waken up at this moment."

Then he put on his headphones again. Reluctantly, Brian shrugged and told the engineer in the control room to record again. The man nodded.

Three, two, one.

Crack.

The whole room sank into darkness.

“ What happened?"

“ Power's out?"

"What's going on outside?"

"God, the hallway's dark, too."

"The whole building's blackout?"

"Fuck!" Freddie took off his headphones and rushed out of the recording room. Unable to see in the dark, he stubbed his little toe against the door and gasped in pain. He limped to the table, found the teapot with his hand but found it empty. He cursed and limped out of the room angrily.

"Fred, where are you going?"

“ To get some tea! My throat's about to explode, and this fucking studio won't afford us enough tea!" He was in such a bad mood and didn't control his hand, pushed the door open abruptly and bumped into a man who just passed by.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Freddie apologized casually because he was still angry.

Fortunately, the man just startled but did not hurt. He stopped and looked at the room behind Freddie:  “ You're a band and record songs here? Don't worry, the power will be back on soon. The next door is setting up new equipment and caused the circuit breaker tripped."

Freddie pay little attention to this man just now, all he wanted was a cup of tea to relieve his throat and bad mood. But on hearing this, he stopped and glanced up and down at the man.

He had a lighter in his hand so Freddie could see roughly. The man was about Freddie’s height, a bit thin, some older than him, with short hair, a shirt and a tie and a canvas jacket.

"Are you in charge of fixing the wires?" Freddie asked impatiently,  “ My time had been wasted because of the terrible conditions. Don't you think you should give me any compensation?"

The man seemed slightly surprised, but did not care about his rude tone: "Your proposal is not up to me, but I can ask the studio owner for you. Need anything else?"

"I need tea," Freddie said, showing the teapot in his hand and raising his voice dramatically,  “ And I need opportunity, future, and light!"

The man raised his eyebrow. Before he could say anything, Brian was at Freddie's side, pulling Freddie behind him, then apologized to the man: "I'm so sorry, sir. My friend is usually a kind person. He is just a bit tired today. He was joking—"

"I do want tea!"

"Fred, please be quiet."

“ He is the electrician so he should be responsible for the status!"

"Freddie! Don't talk like that!"

Seeing Brian losing patience, the sound engineer who worked for them in the control room craned his neck, hesitating to interrupt. But the man made a gesture to him, telling him don’t mind.

"It’s alright, I'll bring you tea," he said, interrupting Brian and Freddie's argument and taking the pot from Freddie. "Just a moment." He smiled politely and walked away.

As the light from the man's lighter disappeared around the corner of the hallway, Brian turned to face Freddie. He was so tall that in the darkness he seemed even taller and more dignified than usual.

"I know you're tired, you've got a sore throat, we've had a bad time in recording tonight, and now there's an accident and you're not happy. To be honest, I hate unplanned accidents, too. But you shouldn't be mad at strangers, don't you think so?"

"You're right, Mom." Freddie had calmed down now and realized it's not wise to argue with Brian any more. So he ran back to the room and sat on the couch with Roger.

Brian rolled his eyes and Roger laughed. "I'm with Fred if it'll be free tonight!"

Brian gave him middle finger. Roger gave back.

"Excuse me."

The man came back with a pot of hot tea. Brian thanked him and took the pot, prepared the tea in the light of the man's lighter.

Freddie sat beside them a bit awkwardly. He admitted that he sometimes lost his temper, but he was too proud to admit his mistake. When he got his cup of tea, he could feel that the man was looking at him. Suddenly, shyness came over him. He was embarrassed to make eye contact with the man, instead only whispered a thank you.

Just in time, the lights came back on. Freddie glanced at the clock, jumped off the couch and clapped to the others. "We still have time, come on darlings, let's do it again!"

Bryan and Roger put down their cups, but Eddy paused.  “ There's less than twenty minutes left. I thought the day was over. Aren't you tired?"

Freddie shook his finger. "Do remember that Queen will never give up performing, not even for a minute. How can I be tired? The nightingale that bleeds from the heart sings the most beautiful songs."

Someone chuckled at the words. Freddie looked over and saw it was the man.

It was the first time Freddie looked at the man carefully. The man did dress like an electrician with nothing particularly remarkable at first glance. His clothes were of a plain color, his short dark brown hair was a little gray at the temples. About forty years old, Freddie guessed. Maybe he was not very handsome or delicate, but he was quite well-featured and his expression was gentle, probably had got some girls fascinated when he was young.

Freddie cleared his throat, blushing slightly, then hurried into the recording room. He noticed that the man did not leave at once, but watched their recording through the glass of the control room for a long time.

That cup of hot tea seemed to bring him back to his senses, Freddie felt full of energy and sang with such intensity that he wouldn’t left the room when the time was over until Roger pull him out. 

The man had left then. Freddie didn’t know why he was some pity about it, but he quickly pushed the thought aside and went to help his teammates pack up their instruments.

When the boys were about to leave, the sound engineer stopped them.

"You won't be charged for this time. Do you want your money back now or pay for the rent next time?"

Everyone looked at Freddie, whose mouth opened wide for a moment then came into a smirk. "No need to pay? It’s really free? Oh that’s so great, dear! This is the best studio in London!"

The engineer laughed and shook his head. "It's not free. You don’t need to pay because that gentleman have paid for you guys just now."

Again, everyone was surprised.

"Why? He is just an electrician here, isn’t him?"

"Mr. John Deacon is a senior engineer at a famous car company. He’s a friend of our boss, the owner of this studio. He came here today because my boss got a new set of equipment and asked him to help with the debugging. He just arrived when happened to see you guys screaming the roof off."

Blaming glances were focused on the singer. Freddie licked his lips and blinked innocently, saying with a sweet voice. "Mr. Deacon is such a good man. Hope he's not angry. I promise to invite him to dinner next time."

中文版原文

第一章

弗莱迪紧皱眉头，坚决地摇头：“不，我们重新再录一遍。”

“还录？这一晚上录多少遍了， Fred ，我的手抬不起来了。”罗杰半躺在控制室的沙发上抗议，“已经很好听了，你要怎样才满意？我们又不是明天就要为女王表演。”

“我们不为女王表演，我们就是女王。”弗莱迪摆弄他的头发，将那头乌黑的长发拢得更顺，这派头即使不能说是女王，起码也像一位即将接受授勋的贵族，“好了，快起来，亲爱的，把你的屁股挪到鼓架后面去。回公寓我给你做个手部按摩怎么样？”

“嗯哼，听起来不错。”罗杰看起来接受了主唱的安排，但依然躺在沙发上伸懒腰，把吉他手挤得没地方坐。

布莱恩叹着气离开沙发：“我同意 Fred ，仅仅 ’ 好听 ’ 是不够打动唱片公司和我们签约的，我们需要的是更完美的效果。”

想到乐队成立一年来四处碰壁的经历，三人都感到胸口压着的巨石又沉了几分。所有唱片公司拒绝他们时都借口他们“缺少了什么”。缺了什么呢？

但坐在另一把椅子上的第四个年轻人却不以为意。

“太较真了吧，咱们的水平这样表现就够 —— ”这名叫艾迪的青年说到中途，瞥见弗莱迪的神色，耸耸肩，“好吧，要重录就重录，你说了算。”

他起身拿上他的贝斯，跟着队友们今晚通宵以来第一百次走进录音棚。经过鼓手时，他小声向罗杰抱怨：“你们主唱的脾气 —— ”话没说完，他发现罗杰瞪着眼睛盯他，于是今晚第二次，艾迪把后半截话吞了下去。

他刚才听罗杰喊累，就以为自己和鼓手站在同一条战线，而这显然是个错觉。这个乐队的最初三人在苛求细节和对未来的野心上是一样的。艾迪想，有时候会感到自己和他们之间在理念上的差别，难道之前的几任贝斯手就是因此离开的？但是一个新人乐队还经得起频繁换队员吗，他已经是他们的第六个贝斯手了。他能留下来吗？

三、二、一，录音师开始又一轮录音，忍不住打了个哈欠。这几个小子总是订便宜的通宵场，每次折腾整晚也不一定能录好一首歌，今天看状况也悬。录音师看看表，已经到早上了。

几分钟后，乐队的主唱再次摘下耳机，冲自己发脾气。“我唱的像屎”， 他揉着脖子说。

布莱恩忧心忡忡地欲言又止。弗莱迪看见他的表情，明白了他的顾虑：“别瞎担心亲爱的，我已经忙得半个月既没有出去睡，也没搞别的事弄坏我的嗓子，此刻只不过是我的缪斯女神还没有睡醒罢了。”

说罢，他又戴上耳机。布莱恩无奈地摊开双手，告诉控制室的录音师再录一次。录音师点点头，三、二、一。

啪。

整个房间陷入漆黑。

“怎么回事？”“停电了？”“外面怎么样？”“不行，走廊也黑了。”“整个楼都没电了？”

“靠！”弗莱迪甩开耳机，冲出录音棚。黑暗中看不清，小脚趾撞到了门框，疼得他倒吸凉气。他一瘸一拐地摸索茶几的方向，手碰到了茶壶，拿起来晃了晃，发现已经空了。他气得直骂倒霉，又一瘸一拐地往门口走。

“ Fred ，你去哪儿？”

“去找水！我嗓子要爆炸了，这破录音室连茶都没有！”他心情糟糕，也没控制手劲，推开门的动作过猛，正好撞到门外经过的人身上。

“哦，不好意思。”弗莱迪还在气头上，语气生硬地随口敷衍道。

好在对方没撞伤，大概只是吓了一跳，停下脚步，往弗莱迪身后的录音室看了一眼：“是乐队在录音吗？不用担心，隔壁在调试设备，跳闸了，一会儿应该就能恢复供电。”

弗莱迪本来想绕开这个人，去找茶水解救自己的喉咙和坏心情。但听到这么说，便也停下脚步，上下扫了一眼这人。

男人身高和他差不多，短发，偏瘦，衬衫领带和帆布夹克，岁数有些大，手里点燃一支打火机，跳跃的橘色火光映照出眼角的皱纹。

“你是负责修电线的？”弗莱迪如此判断，更加没好气，“你们录音室的恶劣条件干扰了我的工作，就让我干等着浪费时间？不来点补偿？”

男人好像略有些吃惊，但到底没计较他的语气：“你的提议我做不了主，但我可以帮你去问问录音室的老板。你还有别的需求吗？”

“我要茶。”弗莱迪举起手中的茶壶，夸张地提高音量，“还要机遇、未来、和光明！”

男人挑了挑眉。不等他说什么，布莱恩已经来到弗莱迪身旁，把弗莱迪拉到身后，然后向男人道歉：“非常不好意思，我朋友他平时对人挺和善的，今天有点累了，刚才都是开玩笑 —— ”

“我确实要喝茶！”

“ Fred 请你安静。”

“他是这儿的电工他就该负责到底！”

“ Freddie ！不要这么说话！”

眼看布莱恩也快失去耐心，为他们工作的录音师在房间里伸长了脖子，犹豫着要不要插话。男人见状比了个手势，告诉他不用在意。“没关系，我去端壶茶来，”他打断布莱恩和弗莱迪的争执，从弗莱迪手中拿走茶壶，“稍等片刻。”他礼貌地笑笑，转身离开。

看男人手里打火机的火光消失在走廊拐角，布莱恩转身面向弗莱迪，叉起腰。他个子高，这个姿势在黑暗中显得比平时体积庞大，颇为威严。

“我知道你累了，嗓子难受，咱们的录音不顺利，现在又遇上意外，你很不满意。老实说，我也很讨厌计划外的事故。但是你也不该对陌生人发火，我说的对吗？”

“你说得对，老妈。”弗莱迪发了通脾气，这时头脑已经冷静下来，自知理亏，不再理布莱恩，跑去和罗杰抢沙发。

罗杰看见布莱恩翻白眼，哈哈大笑：“如果今晚真能免单，我就支持 Fred ！”布莱恩给他俩竖中指，罗杰比了回去。

“打扰了。”

刚才那男人端壶热茶回来了，布莱恩赶快接过来，就着男人和罗杰的打火机倒茶，嘴上不停地道谢。

弗莱迪在旁边有点尴尬地坐着。他承认自己有时火气重，却又不想随便低头认错。接过茶杯时，他感到男人在看他，这时候一冷静，害羞的情绪就上来了，不敢和人对视，只小声说了句谢谢。

正好，灯重新亮了，调音台等设备也恢复了。弗莱迪扫一眼挂钟，立刻从沙发上跳起来，拍手招呼队友们：“还有时间，快快快，咱们再录一遍！”

布莱恩和罗杰都放下茶杯，只有艾迪愣住：“只有二十分钟不到，我以为今天就算结束了？你不是累了吗？”

弗莱迪郑重其事地摇摇手指：“你要记得，哪怕只剩一分钟，皇后乐队也不会放弃演奏。我怎么会累呢？从心脏流出鲜血的夜莺才会唱出最美的歌。”

有人闻言噗嗤笑出声。弗莱迪看过去，发现是那个男人。

他刚才没好意思和人搭话，现在才算第一次认真打量对方。照明恢复后，他能看清男人的样貌打扮，确实一副电工的模样。初看没什么特别出奇的地方，衣着是朴素的颜色，深棕色的短发在鬓角有些灰白，年龄大概四十岁上下，谈不上多么英俊或精致，但五官也算端正，表情很温和，年轻时大概也会让一些女生着迷。

弗莱迪清清嗓子，脸色有些窘迫地泛红，没再说话，赶快钻进了录音棚。他注意到那人没有马上离去，而是隔着控制室的玻璃看他们录音，看了挺长时间。

弗莱迪这次唱得相当投入，那杯热茶似乎让他找回了感觉，直到挂钟的指针走完最后一分钟才意犹未尽地被罗杰拉出来。

那男人大概是最后几分钟时离开的。弗莱迪不知为何有些遗憾，但很快推开了杂念，帮队友收拾乐器。

收拾完毕，几个年轻人正准备离开，录音师叫住了他们：“这次录音不收你们费用。之前交的钱是想我现在退给你们，还是抵下次的租金？”

所有人看向弗莱迪，弗莱迪张大了嘴呆了会儿，接着嘴角一咧，露出得意的笑容：“真的免费了？太棒了亲爱的，你们是全伦敦最好的录音室！”

录音师哭笑不得地摇了摇头：“不是免费，是刚才那位先生帮你们付了这次的费用。”

所有人再次感到意外：“咦？他不是电工，来修电线的吗？”

“迪肯先生是我们老板的朋友，本职是汽车公司的高级工程师。老板新入手了一套调音设备，请他来帮忙看看调试。刚进门，就遇上断电和你们一群小子吵得要掀翻房顶。”

几束谴责的目光集中到主唱身上。弗莱迪舔舔嘴唇，眨巴眨巴眼睛，咳咳两声换上甜美撒娇的声音：“迪肯先生真是个好人，希望他没有生气，我下次请他吃饭吧！”


End file.
